


An awkward situation

by Heligena



Series: SwanQueen Week Drabbles [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Awkwardness, F/F, Funny, Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-20
Packaged: 2018-11-16 04:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heligena/pseuds/Heligena
Summary: A/N: Just a quick fic based around S1 of Once Upon a Meh before everything went to Hell .  This just popped into my noodle after I had a spare half hour and saw the options for the wonderful Swan Queen week back a few years ago.  Now cross posting from ff.net so everyone can read if they fancy.  Enjoy...





	1. Awkward Situations

An irritated voice hit air.

“Miss Swan,...”

Emma tamped down on the growl rising in her throat and purposely kept her eyes locked on the page she was reading. The typeface was so small and the sentences broken up into such ridiculously convoluted clauses that it was taking all her effort to keep track of where she was on the page without having to deal with a cantankerous mayor on top of that.

“Just...I’m almost done, Regina.”

A sniff. Nothing more. 

“Done implies comprehension Sheriff and I get the feeling that’s a generous word for the motion of those rusty gears turning in your head right now.”

Green eyes looked up then, rimmed with frustration and a bad night’s sleep. “You wanted me to re-evaluate the town charter so I’m re-evaluating the damn charter. Maybe if it hadn’t been written back in eleventy- thirty three this wouldn’t take so long.” 

“Well at least we see where Henry gets his loose grasp of history from.”

Emma threw down her pen.

“You know a little wine might help lubricate these rusty old gears.” The blonde’s lips tilted upwards imperceptibly. “Or are your hostess skills equally too corroded to stretch to something like that.”

She knew that’d get her.

Regina’s pride was the driving force in her life...as much as she might try and hide it. And to question her finishing skills no less was practically unheard of in Storybrooke. The wicked snarl that erupted from the older woman at Emma’s gall was almost...delicious.

The blonde ducked her head down again to cover her own smile just as Regina uncrossed her legs and practically stalked over to the large oak dresser that stood like a sentinel near the fireplace. It had been her mother’s once upon a time. She hadn’t even given it a second thought when she’d created the original curse but then she had come downstairs that fateful morning after checking her image in the mirror, taking perhaps a small peek out the bedroom window and found to her surprise the thing was stationed in her front room, large as life.

She knew she shouldn’t find it comforting of course, the image of her mother opening those same glass doors criss -crossed with gilt framework as she plotted and ripped open the dreams of all the people closest to her, especially after Zelena’s revelations of a life filled with hunger and paucity- the life of the daughter Cora Mills truly turned her back on... But somehow the reliable old thing with its solid spine and heavy shelves warmed her skin every time she touched it.

Strange, the things you cling to. 

Shaking away the maudlin thoughts Regina let her fingers dance across the parade of bottles in there, moving past the older slightly dusty ones until she touched the label she had been looking for.

“I assume Zinfandel is acceptable?” she said with a drawl.

Emma’s eyes remained firmly on the scroll. “Cool. I actually prefer all my wine to come from the home of the elves. Gives it that lovely oak undertone.”

She looked up to see the brunette staring at her blankly. “Nerd joke. Never mind. Sounds perfect.”

“Mmm.”

Regina’s lips pursed but she removed the cork with consummate skill and poured out two glasses.

As she sauntered back across the room, she gently placed Emma’s flute on the coaster next to her. At least that was all she meant to do; give the irritating blonde interruption her drink then retire back to her own futon where she could wait for this endless hour to pass but staring down at the younger woman, her black glasses pushed up on her nose and her face screwed up in concentration the brunette couldn’t help noticing how scholarly and youthful Emma looked in the glow of her lamp.

Almost effervescent.

Wait...did she just call the blonde endearing?

Effervescent?  
Ridiculous!

Christ, she was losing it since Henry and his birth mother had come back into her life.

Not all the way back, granted. She was still just the friendly grown up to him, the insightful adult who never failed to offer a smile when he needed one...but it was better than nothing she supposed. Better than the alternative. And she knew because she had been forced to live it.

She remembered a quote she had once read, in fact for a brief second it floated in front of her eyes.

‘Who knows what true loneliness is- not the conventional word but the naked terror? To the lonely themselves it wears a mask. The most miserable outcast hugs some memory or illusion.’

She couldn’t quite recall who had said it but truly they had delved to the heart of the thing. That tugging misery of a past that existed only to a few. Not to the one who mattered the most. Sometimes it was almost too much to breathe.

“You ok?”

Pulling herself together, Regina took in curious green eyes nearby and nodded briskly, stalking back to her seat where she took a large gulp of her wine, feeling the liquid froth against the back of her mouth. A cheap distraction, she was aware but a distraction nonetheless.

Resting her head back against the cushion, Regina ignored the expression of slight concern she knew the blonde must be wearing and let her hands drop to her side.

Frazzled by the mere presence of the other woman in her home.  
Suddenly an odd buzzing noise caught her attention. 

All mawkish thoughts forgotten, her head snapped up as she stared at the window.  
Nothing but the usual hush greeted her.

Blinking a little uneasily the Mayor peeked at her companion but Emma had returned her attentions to the charter resting in her lap and didn’t seem to have noticed anything untoward.

You’re losing it, Your Majesty.

Reaching for her drink again, needing the quiet sparkle it brought to the darkness she felt descending; Regina wrapped long fingers around the stem when another murmuring flutter sent a small ripple through the curtains across from her.

“Did you hear that?!”

Emma’s head popped up at the discordant tone of panic in the older woman’s voice.

“Regina?”

The brunette looked at her wide eyed. “Shhh...listen.”

Emma pulled her glasses off and cocked her head to the side.  
Nothing.  
Just the soft hum of the Victorian lamp glowing outside the front door.

A little bemused, Emma casually ran a hand through her blonde curls. “What, I don’t hear...”  
There it was again, though. A soft thrashing from the back of the curtains; a muted agitation that seemed out of place in the dim light.

Emma’s mouth dropped a little. “Uhh...you wouldn’t happen to have a canary that got loose would you?”

The brunette stared at her sardonically. “No, I wouldn’t.”

Emma watched her companion’s muscles tense and flex with frigidity as the Mayor got to her feet and tiptoed over to the closed off window space. 

Adrenaline wafted through the air as she reached her destination. Glancing at the younger woman who had exchanged her wine for a small pocket knife she usually kept sheathed in her boot, the brunette let out a small taut breath then... gingerly pulled back the heavy damask drape just enough to create a small gap in the hangings.

It attacked without preamble.

An undignified scream fell from Regina’s mouth as something incongruously black and pulsing flew out, its small leathery wings raking her skin like fingertips before it banked and skirted the ceiling above.

“Jesus, what is it?!” exclaimed Emma jumping to her feet. “A wraith?!”

The beast flew upwards so fast green eyes barely caught its movement before it circled around the light then dived behind the dresser.

“It’s not a wraith, right? Because I’m all out of hats at this point Regina.”

The brunette turned to her, face pink with something that looked like a strange mix of horror and embarrassment. 

Heart pounding painfully, Emma watched the brunette’s mouth open and close as if trying to form words.

“Regina?”

She blinked at the sound of her own name, as if it broke the trance she was locked in. 

“It...it’s not a wraith.”

“Well what the hell is it? The Shadow? Is Pan back?”

“Emma it’s not...” Regina’s eyes clung to the glass door of the dresser the thing was hiding behind as if they could pierce the very grain of the wood. “It’s...worse than that.”

The blonde’s nerves were on fire and the brunette’s palpable fear was feeding the flames. Drawing herself up, she grabbed the Mayor by one slender shoulder and drew her round to face her.

“Regina, tell me.”

“I can’t,” came the whispered reply.

Never one to take her eye from an enemy, Emma snuck a glance at the cabinet. But she also couldn’t ignore the waves of terror that were seeping from the all powerful Mayor of Storybrooke in a way she’d never seen before, even back in the horrorshow that had been Neverland. And instinct just kicked in right then and there. Letting her right hand cup Regina’s cheek she steeled herself against the instinctive glare it caused in the woman next to her.

The woman whose glare couldn’t disguise the genuine fear in her features and what seemed like...relief too. Or appreciation maybe?

“Tell me...” Emma whispered. “I can help.”

The mayor didn’t move. Not to back away or lean into the embrace. In fact there seemed to be a war going on inside her pupils, black swirls leaching into chocolate brown with unfamiliar ease.

Then red lips opened a millimetre.

“It’s a...” Her voice petered out.

“Just say it...”

“A...a bat.”

Emma froze.

“I’m sorry, what?”

Those lips hardened. “A bat.”

Emerald eyes blew impossibly large. “Like a vampire?” She took a step backwards. “They have those in Fairytale Hell too? Don’t you have to like invite them in or something?!”

Regina swallowed, missing the comforting touch of the Sheriff’s hand.

“This wouldn’t be one of your exes would it? Stopping by for some late night blood-letting after you forgot to change the locks?” Emma hissed as she crossed her arms around her stomach. “And shouldn’t we be covering our necks or something?!”

Standing there watching the blonde woman unravel in front of her, Regina blew out a stream of hot acid and reached out grabbing the hand that was fisted holding Emma’s shirt to her chin. 

“It’s not a vampire Emma. Calm yourself!”

The younger woman’s twitching subsided a little as she felt warm skin on her own before the words sunk into her brain.

“It’s not?”

Regina resisted the urge to roll her eyes though it was difficult. “It’s not. And no, we can’t lay claim to such ridiculous creatures. Even our homeland has its standards.”

A sharp flicker of movement behind the cupboard distracted them both for a moment but then Emma’s head swivelled back with furrowed brows, questions burning on her skin.

“So that thing is...”

Her voice trailed off as Regina’s cheeks flushed red and she attempted to cover it with a defiant straightening of her shoulders.

“It’s a bat Miss Swan. Just a bat. And I need you to get it out of my house...right now.”

“Oh my god!”

Emma stared back at her as her expression morphed from one of uncertainty and worry into what could only be described as abject delight.

White teeth grit together. 

“Emma this isn’t...”

“You’re scared of bats!”

Regina let a snarl contort across her face as she stepped backwards. “Fear is a subjective thing, even you should...” 

“You’re shit scared, crap your pants afraid of bats!”

“Emma! Could we do this once you get that beast out from behind my mother’s dresser, please?”

The younger woman couldn’t help it. It was just too good an opportunity to waste and she clapped her hands together as she took in the defensive posture facing her. “Oh, this is the best day of my life. I mean, literally like the best day. Of. My. Life.” The blonde smiled so wide that all the mayor could see was teeth. “You’re the Queen of darkness and you’re afraid of Count Duckula!” 

“I’m not having this conversation with a child, Miss Swan.”

The raging brunette, her eyes flashing with fire waved her hand at her companion with disgust and began stalking towards the doorway, hands clenched into painful fists at her side but before she could get halfway there the creature decided to show itself again and hurled its tiny body out of its hiding place and swooped towards the centre of the ceiling with a high pitched squeak.

Emma had never heard a scream so ear piercing in her whole life when Regina felt a whoosh of air above her and glimpsed the thing’s frantic trajectory. Before she knew what was happening, the blonde found herself with a second skin, the slender body of the mayor pressed against her front, dark shining hair bunched up against her chin.

Every smart ass thing that would have dropped from her mouth at any other time died quietly as she found herself enjoying the sensation of warm skin and trembling lips at her pulse point, attempting to draw strength from the steady beat beneath her neck.

Perhaps it was the unexpected turn the evening had taken since she’d reluctantly agreed to give up her free time. Or perhaps she’d always known that the she and the Mayor shared some strange indefinable connection that threatened to morph into something else entirely that caused her stomach to jump when Regina grabbed onto her. Either way, she couldn’t help falling into the sensations prickling at her flesh.

“Hey...”

Lowering her voice the way she used to with Henry, the blonde reached around and let her left hand run softly through those inviting locks. “It’s ok.”

“Nothing about this is ok,” mumbled the brunette making Emma smile a little.

“I don’t know which will kill me first,” muttered the brunette still burrowed into her clavicle, “...that fiendish thing or the utter humiliation of this whole thing.”

“Oh the humiliation definitely.” Sassed the blonde. “I read somewhere it’s the number one MO of serial killers these days.”

Emma found the groan emanating from her new snuggle partner absolutely and inexplicably adorable... but she pushed aside her own desire to milk the situation for all it was worth as soon as her brain kicked into gear and she began to think back to all the stupid and petty things that had given her endless nightmares throughout her past. 

Yapping dogs that snarled at her on her first paper route. 

The smell of burnt pasta that meant her foster mother was going to make them go hungry again as revenge for her own ineptitude.

Those guys who sat at the back of the night bus in the city, never speaking, never moving but sinister as hell and faceless in all the worst ways.

Just the memory of her own fears sent a cascade of shame through her spine and she couldn’t help cringing inwardly at how she had behaved over the last few minutes. Emma took a deep breath in an attempt to cleanse herself of the memories. Then she wrapped both her arms tenderly around the other woman’s curved back and let them rest there.

“Seriously Regina, I’m sorry I was...such a dick. I’ll get the rid of the bat ok? It’ll be gone and you won’t even know it was ever here.”

Emma grimaced as the soft cheek that had taken up residence on her shoulder lifted up and suddenly she was face to face with inquisitive kohl eyes.

“And you won’t tell anyone?”

The vulnerability trapped in that single question almost broke her, unexpected and sweet as it was.

“Hand on my heart.” She said softly. “I’m the Saviour remember, this is what I do.” She shrugged. “Sometimes. When no-one else is available.” 

With a lopsided grin the Sheriff nodded warmly at the woman in front of her then forced herself to move before she did something really inappropriate. Yanking the fur blanket off the back of the couch, she narrowed her eyes at the black creature circling the chandelier above. Then, she forced her heartbeat to slow just a bit as she started to figure out its pattern of movement; a strange airborne ballet that appeared random but actually had a sense of blind repetition the longer she watched.

Gotcha.

The Sheriff made her move as everything clicked into place. Jumping up on the arm of the sofa, certain that she would be chastised for that later, she threw the coverlet up like a net and watched as the material descended with the mammal trapped beneath it though not fast enough to do it any lasting damage.

She moved like lightning to place her foot on one side of the blanket and grabbed a heavy book from the coffee table and slung it to weigh down the other effectively trapping the bat underneath. 

“Score one for the town law-enforcer.” 

Emma looked up with barely concealed pride at Regina who was perched uncomfortably on the end of her futon, the tell tale twitch of her calf muscles giving away her urge to bolt from the room and her smile dropped.

“Right. Save the celebrations for when the job’s done.”

Returning to her catch, Emma stopped for a second as she watched the beast writhe and flap around underneath the heavy material then she lunged, clasping it through the blanket and holding it at arms length as far away from the trembling woman nearby.

It was surprisingly strong for a wee thing.

“Uhh...door?”

If Regina prickled at the instruction, she didn’t show it; she merely flung open the door to the front room then ran towards the wooden front door and unfastened that too. The action small as it was drained almost all of the remaining energy from her and despite all the training she’d ever received during her lifetime, she could only gawk in an unseemly fashion as the blonde sprinted outside deep into the darkness and coming to a halt on the grass lawn flung the blanket out letting the wildly thrashing creature fly free into the night.

The blonde watched its soundless trail for a few seconds just to make sure it really was gone then nodded to herself making her way slowly inside.

“All done.” She said softly as she threw out her arm motioning for the other woman to follow her into the lounge where this madness had all begun.

They stepped inside as the sensory chaos of the last few minutes mixed uncomfortably with fatigue.

Just the two of them again, as if nothing had happened at all. 

But something had happened. Neither could deny it.  
And although the adrenaline was dying down, there was a new vibrating and heady tension between the two women that grew as the moments ticked by and to be honest Emma had no idea what to say to offset it. 

“Bet you’re glad you got that wine out now, huh?” she threw out lamely.

She half expected Regina to scoff or throw her one of those trademark disdainful looks she did so well but instead... as if to emphasize the weirdness of the whole evening, the mayor did something completely unexpected.

She walked right up to the bouncing Sheriff and pressed a gentle, appreciative kiss to her lips, letting a hand wrap around her neck, the fingers splaying out to touch as much skin as possible.

Emma’s brain just about short circuited on the spot.

“Thank you Miss Swan.” Regina husked, aware of the flush making its way up pale flesh and complimenting herself on being the cause of it. 

“I...yo...you’re welcome?”

Emma felt cool air hit her mouth as Regina leant her head back, not disengaging her hold but revelling a little in the blonde’s shocked expression.

“I suppose on this one particular occasion, this makes you my Saviour, hmm.”

A hesitant smile lit up the younger woman’s face. “I guess so.”

“I suppose I’ll have to find a way to thank you properly then,” said Regina leaning back in, her eyes trained on pink lips that captivated her faltering attention. “Oh and Sheriff?”

“Yup?”

Large green eyes blinked hazily at her.

“If you tell anyone about this evening I...”

“...You’ll destroy me if it’s the last thing you blah blah blah. I got that message a while back Madam Mayor.”

Emma grinned lazily as she took the initiative bringing Regina’s chin upwards to within a millimetre of her own, breathing in the intoxicating scent that came with it.

“Seriously though, bats?”

Regina growled as she silenced the question the only way she could, by taking the Sheriff’s lips between her own.


	2. Your move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This age-old S1 drabble is a lot less fluffy than the first I'm afraid- in fact its more of a hardcore and antagonistic SwanQueen moment tbh but I go where the muse takes me. Please let me know your thoughts- reviews make me a happy soul! Oh and happy SQ smut to you all!!

“Do you play chess Miss Swan?”

“That’s what you called me here to ask?!”

Emma tapped her foot impatiently on the marble tiles by the doorway to the study, huffing with incredulity. “I am Sheriff now you know; people rely on me for their communal safety and wellbeing.”

“Miss Swan, I have a hard time believing you know how to spell communal safety and wellbeing let alone wilfully representing the source of it.” 

Emma bristled as she crossed her arms purposefully. “What can I say, I’m the intellectual powerhouse they don’t see coming.”

“Then I must congratulate you on your disguise for its imperviousness. Truly, no-one would ever tell,” said the mayor peering up from her paperwork with the barest hint of a smile. 

The stand off intensified as the two women locked gazes, neither wanting to break the opaque connection filling up the space with its buzzing charm.

Almost instinctively, Emma took a step further into the room; laying down a challenge no-one else could possibly have picked up on except for the insanely perceptive woman sitting a few metres away behind her monochromatic décor and fingerless sheen. 

“As always I appreciate your unblemished honesty, Madame Mills.” 

The Sheriff caught brown pupils trailing up the seams of her tight jeans, pausing momentarily at their apex before flitting away. 

“Actually the insults kind of make a refreshing change from the backslapping and grateful looks I usually get around town.”

“Well how absolutely terrible that must be for you,” drawled the mayor, upper lip twitching.

“Isn’t it just? Screw Hamlet, sometimes I’m pretty sure mine is the greatest tragedy of them all. ”

Emma had to keep herself from betraying her smirk as she moved stealthily closer, from durable marble to the plush threads of a ruby coloured rug, the growing proximity of her skin noticeably forcing her nemesis’s eyes to flit higher and higher.

“So you were saying?”

“Mmmm?” 

“I thought you had a burning question that needed answering?”

The brunette blinked a little then and when the grand room came back into focus, realised with irritation that she’d allowed the blonde to wrest some of the control away in this situation. Which was not acceptable.

Not acceptable at all.

Standing up ceremoniously behind her desk, brushing her tight-fitting shirt down, Regina let a single fingernail run along the table’s spotless edge as she sauntered around towards her guest. Searching those feline green eyes for hesitation or weakness.

There was none so far.  
Which just added to the entertainment.

“As I was asking, before you ruined my train of thought with your inane babblings…” she said, a natural husk developing in her tone, “…was if you happened to play chess. Being such an intellectual powerhouse and all.”

Emma watched as the older woman stalked forwards a few steps until they were less than a foot apart. Swallowing at the unexpected and unbreakable look of lust shining back at her, she had to tell herself to hold her position as she considered the question.

“I…uh…I…” 

Oh crap.

Scrabbling around for suitable words of any kind, she raised her chin as if that could make up for the embarrassing shortfall and licked her lips.

“I’ve played a few games.”

“Excellent.” Regina cocked her head. “So tell me, Miss Swan, which is your favourite piece?”

Breathing in the shadowy scent of cider and static that emanated from the woman in front of her, Emma’s brain short-circuited completely for a moment. Truth be told she could do little more than stand there open-jawed as the brunette grinned at her.

“Myself I have to admit to having an undisclosed affinity for pawns.” The mayor reached out a manicured nail and ran it delicately down Emma’s forearm, not viciously enough to leave a mark but clearly leaving the hairs standing to attention in its wake. “They’re easy to manipulate and even easier to throw away when they’ve lost their usefulness.”

Oof.

The blonde’s stomach muscles jerked at the older woman’s grin but she fought to keep them down, locked in place as she leaned forward herself.

“Are you sure it isn’t that you just have a thing for small shiny headed bald guys? You can admit it if it’s true, I won’t tell anyone.” A pause. “I always knew there was a reason you ran around with Sydney…”

As her words hit the air, a small sliver of irritation flitted through the brown orbs in front of her and Emma cheered victoriously inside her mind for a brief second. It wasn’t something that happened very often, getting the upper hand over the Evil Queen but damn it felt good when it did.

At least, it felt good right until the brunette gave a growl and suddenly lunged at the blonde, slamming all the air out of her lungs as she pushed her backwards, five steps, ten then slammed her hard against the cream papered wall. 

“You still didn’t answer my question Sheriff and I don’t like to be ignored.”

Regina’s breath was coming out in hot gasps, wetting the pulse point on Emma’s neck and the sight of the woman caught in a moment where she was out of control, existing purely on corporeal instinct rather than strategy sent strange exhilarating shivers down the younger woman’s spine. As if something inside recognised a kindred spirit and responded of its own accord.

“Miss Swan!! I won’t tell you again. Eyes on me.”

Emma gulped as a pair of strong fingers dragged her face down to stare into a pair of irate chocolate pupils. An angry mouth pursed below.

“Which. Is. Your. Favourite. Piece?”

“Uh…”

“I...”

Trying to think of a witty comeback was like wading through mud, especially with Regina’s other hand resting lightly on the waistband of her jeans. But Emma wasn’t willing to lose the game quite so easily either and tried to draw together the fragments of her thoughts into some semblance of order. 

“uh…Why don’t you guess?”

“You don’t want me to guess, Sheriff.”

She sucked in a ragged breath. “Why not?”

“Because I might just be right that you favour the good and powerful knight…thus proving that you’re as predictable as you are feeble.” 

Wriggling around at the newly released spite in the other woman’s voice, more than a little stung, Emma bared her teeth.

“Don’t underestimate the knight, Madame Mayor, he moves in interesting and mysterious ways.” She shoved the arm away from her. “Kind of like God.”

“Well no-one could accuse you of lacking hubris, I’ll give you that.”

“But since you asked, actually no, the Knight isn’t my piece of choice. And it’s certainly not the royals either. I think I’ve had just about enough of grand-standing self-indulgent monarchs lately thank you very much.”

She couldn’t help herself, Regina felt the rumble of anger roll through her stomach and pushed herself up as close to the blonde as was possible. Slamming her lips onto hers, she snaked her hand around the surprised Sheriff’s neck and clawed at her hair, allowing a few ringlets to slip between her fingers as she kissed her as hard as she could. At first, her conquest squirmed and writhed about as she fought to push the woman off her, infuriated by the cheek of it, by the sheer arrogance of the move when she’d just been accused of a similar thing herself. The problem was that her body was acting on it’s own volition. As much as she tried to drag herself away, the skin on her stomach that touched Regina’s shirt was practically coursing with fire and her mind had started to whirl with shivers of desire. 

The effect pretty much turned her muscles into mush. 

And she couldn’t stop herself from kissing back then; her own lips devouring the others with rampant need. They were surprisingly slick and she ran her tongue along the lower of the two until Regina granted her entrance and they both managed to get the taste of each other. Consuming it. Wanting in the most visceral way possible.

That was the moment though. The second when the mayor’s unbreachable walls were down, at least a little and Emma knew she had to take her chance. Biting down a little on the brunette’s lip, she pressed the sole of her boot back against the wall and pushed off with as much strength as she could muster. Both of them were propelled backwards, a quickly buried look of alarm in the older woman’s eyes until her back came into contact with the roll-top lip of her desk and they stopped, Emma’s hands grinding down onto the hipbones directly in front of her.

Pushing them both downwards.

Looking up with a grin, she locked eyes with a furious mayor.

“Miss Swan, what in the hell do you…”

“I’m the knight right? I move in mysterious ways, remember?” Leaning down, Emma gave her a hard kiss, knocking her nose against the brunette’s as if to prove her point before resting a little more of her weight downwards. The mayor’s muscles gave a livid jerk.

“Remove yourself at once!”

“You can’t stop in the middle of the game, Madame Mayor, that’s not how the rules work.”

“I make the rules, you heathen! Now get off me!”

Kicking out with her heel, all the mayor managed to do was knock over the freestanding brass lamp that stood to attention next to her workspace. It fell over with a clank, its chubby head luckily coming to rest on the muffled carpet rather than cold tile.

“You concede?” asked Emma.

“In your dreams, Sheriff.”

Regina huffed impatiently as she struggled against the impervious weight on her, although she didn’t feel quite so eager to get away when Emma dropped her hips and ran a searching hand across the groin of her trousers. In fact, it was all she could do to keep her head facing forward and to stifle the unconscious moan that threatened to escape from her mouth.

Emma saw though. She also felt the beginnings of warm wetness underneath her hand.

“That’s a bold statement of intent, your Majesty,” she whispered, pressing the heel of her hand down harder causing the Mayor to suck in breath.

“And yours is a minor victory; enjoy it while it lasts,” replied Regina through gritted teeth.

It was a throwaway line. A spur of the moment thing. But that particular retort riled the blonde more than she would have thought. She’d been dismissed as unimportant and worthless her whole life, by foster parents, by street hoodlums she’d hung about with who thought she was little more than a schoolgirl for sticking to petty crimes that hadn’t required a victim. Even the judges in the couple of abuse claims that had been filed; they’d sat there on high with their black robes like vultures on a perch frowning at her uncouthness as if she knew perfectly well the appropriate way to act in court and simply refused to adhere to it.

All of them had thought her rebellious. Unteachable. Stupid.  
And now Regina too, it seemed.

Letting her frustration coalesce into a gelatinous mass in her stomach, she clamped her hand down roughly on Regina’s warmth, eliciting a loud keening gasp then pulled it away a second later, retreating backwards into the middle of the room. 

She wasn’t sure who was the most dissatisfied with the move; her own body was screaming at her to go back, to forget about the stupid little insult while Regina’s eyes had widened into impossibly large pools at the cool air that now hung around her, devoid of any human heat.

Panting a little, Emma stared at her. They both stared at each other, breaths ragged and fury stoking some strange shared defiance; the room expanding between the two of them as they tried not to count the number of steps it would take to close that distance.

“What’s the matter Miss Swan, can’t the big strong law enforcer of Storybrooke handle a little good natured dissent?”

Emma let a sneer cross her face. “Think what you like, I’m just more of a delayed gratification kinda gal. Think of this as my middlegame.”

Regina snorted gracefully. “That’s a little presumptuous isn’t it?”

“Judging by the hard time you’re having catching your breath, I don’t think it is,” threw back the blonde.

Regina however didn’t seem to find it quite so funny. Clamping down painfully on her lip to the point that it pinched into an off white colour, she let her hands drop down to smooth out her jacket and trousers, all the while maintaining unbroken eye contact with her counterpart. Then she took a step forward.

Moved from ones small square of smooth marble to the next.

Emma eyes narrowed in response.

But the smirk was already back on the older woman’s face as she took another predatory step across the floor towards Emma, a clear purpose and calculation in the sway of her body; nervousness flashing through her target in a heady wave.

Regina was no fool and she knew exactly how to use the momentary lapse of concentration on the blonde’s part. Making her move, she stalked forwards until she was squarely within the Sheriff’s personal space, their bodies an inch from each other. She didn’t stop there though, despite the expectant twitch in Emma’s limbs and the noticeable sheen of sweat on her upper lip. She kept moving to the right and veered off sharply, away from Emma’s confused and exasperated face, her heels clicking across the floor as she wandered away and out into the shadows of the hallway.

“Goodbye Miss Swan.”

Then she was gone, lost in the darkness of the atrium.

And the Saviour was alone.

Alone and incredibly frustrated.

“Real cute, Regina,” Emma murmured to herself then raised her voice. “You know this makes you no better than a common tease, right?!”

She waited for a moment.

But there was no sign of the other woman. And there was no sound except silence and the buzz of the chandelier above. Or it might have been the hum of her own excited skin, it was getting kind of hard to tell.

“That’s right, I said common! No offence intended! ”

Still nothing.

Not even the clack of muffled heels.  
Just an awkward hush draped over the luxuriant hemp and leather furniture around her. 

No, wait it wasn’t hush that was swathing the chairs. It was dim light.  
Specifically dim car headlights powering up on the street.

And suddenly it hit her. That Regina was leaving. 

That was her move- to rile Emma up with her manipulative words, to give her a taste of something simultaneously sweet and deadly then duck out before she could offer any kind of real satisfaction. The realisation swung at her forehead before she could stop it and in its wake was left a tide of bile and acidic rage that threatened to bubble up and out of her throat. It was true. She was alone in the mansion with nothing but her tingling nerves to keep her company.

The freaking nerve of that bitch!

That was it. She was well and truly done with this game.

Balls to winning.

Vaulting over a footstool, Emma sprinted towards the front window of the lounge, not caring that her boot heels scratched the flooring underneath. Dragging the long linoleum curtain out of her sightline, she peered angrily through the glass at the street. It was empty. Completely devoid of any human signs except the flickering of the orange streetlight every few seconds and the shadows it threw out.

Still nothing though.

Emma huffed feverishly and watched her hot breath steam up the glass in a fleeting ellipsis. A strange almost alien pattern made up of saliva and torture that almost hissed as it met the frigid pane. She hoped it would leave a mark. Hoped it’d leave some reminder of her presence in the house at least, once she’d grabbed her stuff and marched her way out of that damn…

Suddenly, just at that moment, a hand clamped over her mouth from behind and she gave a loud squeal as her head was dragged backwards.

Hot lips journeying to her ear.

“Did you miss me?”

Regina? She thought more than a little thrown.

“You don’t think I’d give up on the game so easily, do you?” The blonde felt a warm tongue lick the shell of her ear. “Especially when I’m winning.”

A delicious shiver ran through the blonde’s entire body as she felt the hand move away from her mouth, and a single manicured finger trail its way down the curve of her throat. The combination of that motion and the warm mouth nipping at her ear lobe was almost too much to cope with.

“Y…y…you know that’s kind of ch…cheating.”

“Not at all. It’s called tactics, dear. I simply told my housekeeper to rev her engine a little before leaving and to make sure her exit was…visible.”

"Pawns have their uses then."

Regina let her finger slide down into the warm, wet valley between Emma's breasts. "They do tend to bring a bit of depth to the game... " 

She ran it tantalisingly underneath the curve of the left one causing the blonde to squeak again, as another wave of unstoppable desire shot through her. 

Oh God.

"Wouldn't you agree?"

Emma simply nodded- all coherent thought dissolving as she felt a gentle tug at her nipple.

Every hair on her body instantly stood to attention and she tried her best not to let out the groan building in her. Not to give Regina the satisfaction. 

“Can you feel it? I think we’re getting close to the endgame now…" the brunette whispered gruffly behind her. "And I'm almost in position to strike…"

She didn’t realise it at the time but that was the one mistake that she made.

It was the arrogance of that very sentence that cut through Emma's reverie, dousing her skin with something colder than ice and pulling her back to the world outside of her own longing.

Because no matter how tempting the offer, she wasn't one to lose if she could help it. And hell she still wanted to win this game at all costs.

So she decided in that one second to play sneaky. 

Opening up her body a little more by elongating her spine, she silently encouraged the snaking hand on her chest to inch lower, tightening her stomach muscles as it crossed them, forcing the astonishing sensations spreading across her body to the back of her mind.

It might have been the most difficult thing she’d ever had to do. Especially with the expert motions those fingers knew by heart. But she reined herself in as kisses slathered her neck. As she felt the mayor’s breasts pressed up against her back, warm and so close.

She compartmentalised all those miraculous sensations.

Still holding back as the wandering digits slipped down... down.. and ever so slightly underneath her jeans waistband she gave a moan without thinking about it but somehow set her plan into motion. Using the movement of Regina’s hand as starting point, she span round on her heel, finding herself face to face with two brown eyes that were blown wide with lust.

Bopping Regina cheekily on the nose, she proceeded to wrap her arms tightly around the lithe body in front of her and pushed them back a metre until the pair of them landed firmly on the desktop. Untangling an arm before the mayor could even protest, she grabbed her thin wrist and pinned it back behind the brunette’s head. She then brought a knee up and pushed it brazenly between the legs in front of her; not concentrating so much that she didn’t notice the heat streaming from that particular area.

“Miss Swan!”

Emma couldn’t tell if the way her name exited Regina’s mouth was a rebuke or a moan; either way it sizzled on her skin. Assuming she wasn’t lucky enough for it to be considered some kind of concession, she decided to go all out and used her other hand to bunch up Regina’s shirt, revealing taut, silky skin and a coating of sweat dappling the top. Glancing up, she noticed that there was a glaze of something similar covering Regina’s hooded eyes and couldn’t ignore the fact that her breathing was erratic. It was a wonderful sight and she rewarded it by dragging her hand across her opponent’s stomach, the sweat feeling like dew on her fingertips. Then slipping it down underneath the woman’s silk panties, she slid three fingers down across her opening. The woman underneath her arched furiously, which did nothing except make the blonde do it again.

She was always telling people that she was nothing if not consistent.

“This...does not...”

Emma grinned at Regina’s attempts to speak as she lay back on the table pinned under her.

“I’m sorry Madame Mayor, I didn’t catch that...”

Regina growled, even with her head thrown back. “This does not mean that you...”

Before she could finish the sentence that Emma desperately wanted to hear the end of, there came a booming and stern knock at the front door to the mansion.

Three raps. 

Boom. Boom. Boom.

“You’ve got to be kidding!”

Emma looked up with complete exasperation and tried to see who might be there through the narrow window beside the door. Unfortunately she shifted her weight as she did so and the mayor was able to free her wrist and in one movement roll to her side, releasing her from her prison. Quickly straightening up, taking a step away from the blonde’s long reach she tidied her clothes and gave the blonde a terse taunting stare before she walked away. Out of the room, and into the foyer to open the door.

“Hey we weren’t done!”

Dashing after her, Emma ran a hand through her tangled mussy hair as she skidded to a stop next to the heavy wooden door. It was already opening and as she craned her neck to see exactly who had interrupted their moment at the most inopportune moment possible, her jaw dropped as she saw an old man in flowing purple robes standing there. He had a soft round cap sitting atop his hairless head and a large chain complete with crucifix dangling casually from his neck, as if it was the most probably place to keep such a thing in this day and age.

“Emma, I’d like you to meet the bishop.”

Emma simply stared at Regina unsure she wasn’t having some kind of breakdown. Well one of them. Or both.  
She wasn’t entirely sure.

“I asked him to come round today on the off-chance that I might need his...spiritual assistance. If you understand my meaning.”

“Charmed to meet you Emma.” The man said with a firm nod of the head.

“Pleasure’s all mine, Your...Honour?”

As if that was all the introductions required, Regina began ushering the man inside the house with promised of hot coffee and pastries then proceeded to grab the Sheriff’s arm a second after he had turned towards the kitchen, half pushing her out the door with a malicious smile pasted on her face.

“Wait, I’m leaving?”

Regina nodded as if she was confirming the most obvious thing in the world. “Of course you are, dear. The game is adjourned. Call it a recess if you must.”

Reaching out to straighten the blonde’s collar, as she stumbled down the step, she tutted.

“Tactics remember Miss Swan.”

Spluttering, the younger woman could only blink, “So...you asked him to come as a back-up. An interruption?”

There was no response.

“So if things had turned out differently and had gone your way, you would have...”

“Well there’s no need to give away all my secrets.” Regina winked at her as she started to close the heavy door, rolling her shoulders a little to get the stiffness out of them. “Besides, I’m sure you’ll find out soon enough. Always a pleasure Sheriff.” 

There was a brief glimpse of her dark hair then she was gone.

And Emma was alone on her porch.

Alone and completely turned on.  
FML she thought miserably.

And started to take the long walk back to town.  
In no way formulating a plan for the next round she knew was coming.


End file.
